In a vehicle body structure, a rear pillar is extended from the rear end of a roof rail rearward and downward of the vehicle body, a rear end portion of the rear pillar is provided at an upper portion of a damper housing, and the upper portion of the damper housing is reinforced by a reinforcing member (see Patent Literature 1, for example). When a load is transmitted from the rear end of the roof rail to the rear pillar, for example, this vehicle body structure allows the transmitted load to be transmitted to the upper portion of the damper housing through the rear pillar. The transmitted load can be borne at the upper portion of the damper housing because the upper portion of the damper housing is reinforced by the reinforcing member.
On the other hand, in a vehicle body structure, a rear panel is generally raised upward from the rear end of a rear floor panel forming a floor portion of the vehicle body so that the raised rear panel forms a rear portion of a baggage compartment. The rear end of the rear floor panel and the rear panel are reinforced by a plurality of reinforcing members to ensure the rigidity and strength of the rear panel.
However, the vehicle body structure according to Patent Literature 1 requires that the upper portion of the damper housing be reinforced by the plurality of reinforcing members to bear a load transmitted from the rear pillar by the upper portion of the damper housing, resulting in a possible increase in the number of components. Further, it requires that the rear end of the rear floor panel and the rear panel be reinforced by the plurality of reinforcing members, resulting in a possible further increase in the number of components.
Moreover, in the vehicle body structure according to Patent Literature 1, the rear end portion of the rear pillar is provided at the upper portion of the damper housing. Thus, it can be considered that a relatively large load is input from the rear pillar to the upper portion of the damper housing. Therefore, it is necessary to reinforce the upper portion of the damper housing by the reinforcing members to bear a load input from the rear pillar.